APNew England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez celebrates a long gain to near the goal line, which set up a touchdown, against the Buffalo Bills in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday Jan. 1, 2012. The Patriots won 49-21.

Do you go after wide receiver Wes Welker and leave tight
ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski alone, or do you key on the tight ends
and take your chances with Welker?

"Well, I think the fact that there are more than one of two
names that you just rattled off makes it hard for any defensive coach to defend
the New England offense," Denver coach John Fox said. "So, at the end of the
day, you just try to mix it up and try to win some of those matchups."

Denver ran into that problem during their last meeting with
the Patriots, a 41-23 victory for the Patriots.

The Broncos were mostly successful keying on Welker and
Gronkowski, who were limited to a combined eight catches for 94 yards, but left
Hernandez to gain 129 yards on nine receptions.

"The plays were called for me and they were obviously
focusing on Gronk and Wes," Hernandez said. "They left me with an opportunity
to make plays and it happened.

“I honestly don’t think about (personal contributions). I don’t care about what they do. They have to pick their poison. We have so many weapons."

It's doubtful that the Broncos will make the same mistake
this week, but Fox has doubts about anyone's ability to take away all of New
England's weapons.

Someone is almost always going to be open, and he knows that
quarterback Tom Brady is too talented to let many opportunities go to waste.

"I think you realize the day (Aaron)
Hernandez had, you forgot to say his name," Fox said when asked about his team's
ability to shutdown Welker and Gronkowski. " You know they've got tough
matchups, they're all great players. Tom's (Brady) as good as anybody at
finding those matchups and it will come down to that again this time I'm sure."

And there's also the problem of
receivers being open even when they aren't.

"Even if the guy isn't open, he'll put
it in the right place for him to be like he's open," Hernandez said. "He's a
great quarterback. Everyone knows that and he makes this offense go."